What's at stake?
Fresno County could fine you and seize your vehicle for illegal trash dumping.
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors this week increased fines for illegal dumping and added new provisions allowing county authorities to impound vehicles connected to illegal dumpings.
Part of the meeting was also reserved to discuss the continuation of funding for shelters across the county, including Poverello House, the Marjaree Mason Center and Selma Community Outreach Ministries.
Supervisor Steve Brandau also introduced a resolution to support the Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act, an act that would revert Prop 47 that aims to reduce homelessness by pushing those with drug addiction into treatment.
The BOS also briefly touched on local law enforcement’s collaboration with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during their Transparent Review of Unjust Transfers and Holds (TRUTH) Act Forum.
Increased fines, impounding vehicles and night vision goggles to catch illegal dumping
The supervisors unanimously adopted larger fines for illegal dumping and to impound vehicles connected to illegal dumpings.
Of note is the update to the way the county is able to fine those who illegally dump waste within county lines. Dumped items that are one cubic yard or larger can now be treated as separate dumping instances, so if a person dumps multiple large items, they can be fined up to $3,000 for each individual item.
The ordinance code language refers to items that are a cubic yard or larger as “about the size of a household washing machine.” Illegal dumping is also now considered a misdemeanor, while littering is still only an infraction.
Moreover, vehicles connected to illegal dumpings can now be impounded and held for up to 30 days. These “nuisance vehicles” can be impounded only if the driver is arrested for illegally dumping and if the driver has a prior conviction for illegally dumping in the last three years.
“As we do come across garbage that is dumped on the side of the road, we will be looking for letters, receipts, anything that we’re able to kind of tie back to the person who is responsible for that garbage,” Supervisor Nathan Magsig said.
Sgt. John Wages of the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office also noted that surveillance is done in areas with high concentrations of illegal dumpings, which includes the use of night vision goggles and license plate reading cameras.
Services for unhoused and vulnerable populations
In a unanimous vote, the supervisors approved several Homeless Service Agreements, allowing funding to remain at COVID-era levels.
Originally, contracts were set to decrease funding for the local shelters by transitioning out of the COVID-era funding, which would have meant a decreased capacity for all shelters. For Naomi’s House, an overnight shelter for homeless women, their capacity would have dropped from 34 beds to just 11.
“We’re turning away women every single night,” said Zack Darrah, CEO of the Poverello House, during the meeting.
The approved funding allows all shelters to continue operating as is, however, Naomi’s House still needs to find alternative ways to cover the gap in funding in the future once COVID-era funding is spent.
The BOS instructed county staff to find funding sources for the months of July and August while also beginning talks with the City of Fresno to explore ways to fund the gap for the remainder of the 24-25 fiscal year.
TRUTH Act Forum report
Sheriff John Zanoni presented the report for the Sheriff’s Office collaboration with ICE in 2023 during the TRUTH Act Forum, revealing that ICE transfers have increased from 18 transfers in 2022 to 39 transfers in 2023. In total, the department received 204 holds/detainers from ICE.
Zanoni also reported no interviews by ICE were done in the Sheriff’s Office facility. Of the 39 transfers, 30 of those were crimes against persons, with 13 of those 30 being domestic violence crimes. The sheriff said three transfers were involved in sex crimes, three involved in property crimes and three involved felony drug crimes.
Maria Romani, a staff attorney for the Immigrants’ Rights Program at ACLU of Northern California, commented on the TRUTH Act report through a proxy, calling for more transparency from the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office on their collaboration with ICE.
“The community deserves to know the full scope of the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office’s interactions with ICE to ensure that it is complying with the state sanctuary law,” Romani wrote.
Romani also suggested the Sheriff’s Office should share any changes made to its policies regarding the implementation of the sanctuary law, the number of email exchanges between the office and ICE and the number of funds allocated to continue collaborating with immigration enforcement.
Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act
Brandau introduced a resolution to support the Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act, resulting in a unanimous vote in support of the resolution.
The act seeks to reverse Proposition 47 and force triple-repeat drug offenders to choose between jail or addiction and mental health treatment.
Despite this, the proposed measure does not outline where funding for the proposed treatment would come from.
The measure would also increase penalties for repeat theft offenses, introduce new laws to combat “smash and grab” theft and harshen penalties for carrying fentanyl as well as classify fentanyl as a “hard drug.”
“It does a lot of good things to address the shortcomings of Prop 47,” said Brandau.
